Dancing Around The Subject
by Methodically-Unorthodox
Summary: Love happens in baby steps; especially if the one’s involved happen to be clueless. Ratchet and the Twins learn that the hard way. G1. Slash. Pairing: Ratchet/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker Characters property of Has/Tran/Tak…
1. Chapter 1

This is a Fic I wrote for a Friend

This is a Fic I wrote for a Friend.

Transformers © HasTak.

Sunstreaker sat there with a frown a mile long on his face. It was bad enough he was injured, but to have to sit through another one of Ratchets rants was just about too much for his temper to handle. The medic sat in front of him, piecing back together his arm, which had been nearly blown off in a battle that morning. Ratchet was on his usual tirade about how he was 'so overworked' and how 'he didn't have the energy to look after mechs stupid enough to mess with the seekers.' True, Sunstreaker's jet judo did need some work, but hearing about his immense stupidity for hours on end didn't help his mood. Ratchet was winding down in his rant, which meant he was almost done his repairs. He finished off his rant with the all too familiar line "I am sick to death of seeing you in here." And began to put his tools away. Before Ratchet could get another word in Sunstreaker cut in.

"Well, maybe the seekers will do you the honor of finishing the job next time, so you wont have to fix me. Seeing as you hate me so much and all" Sunstreaker snorted, as he hopped off the table and made for the door. He knew very well what he said would invoke another rant from Ratchet, and he had no intentions to stick around for the proceedings. But about half way to the door Ratchet grabbed his wrist and whirled him around. This threw Sunstreaker off; if Ratchet had wanted to stop him, he would have used his traditional method of yelling and throwing things. Sunstreaker stiffened in preparation for the strip Ratchet was no doubt going to tear out of him. But when the dreaded rant never came Sunstreaker strengthened and brought his optics up to Ratchets. Sunstreaker had expected Ratchet to be radiating anger, but upon looking at him, he was surprised to find that Ratchet wasn't ten second away from blowing his top, but instead had a very concerned look on his face.

" I don't hate you… And I don't hate fixing you. It just worries me that you do such… stunts… One day you're not going to walk away from one of your escapades." Ratchet said in a generally worried tone.

That statement took Sunstreaker aback; he hadn't expected anything like this from Ratchet the Hatchet. He just stood there, shocked, not knowing what exactly he was supposed to do next. So he said the only thing that came to mind.

"So what if I don't…"

The reply caused Ratchets frown to deepen.

"You got to remember that it isn't just you… If you ever died you would be taking Sideswipe along with you. No one wants to see that happen. It hurts me to see you two in here so much." Ratchets replied sadly. Sunstreaker's mind went totally blank; no one had ever really shown any concern over him or his brother like this. It was usually someone yelling at them for their recklessness. But never had there been genuine concern like this. Ratchet let go of Sunstreaker's arm and went back to cleaning up his tools. Sunstreaker just stood there, and watched him for a long moment.

"And DON'T you ever imply that the seekers killing you would honor me. The thought sickens me to no end." Ratchet snapped, without turning around. His tone returned to annoyed anger, but still had a hint of mild worry behind it.

With that, Sunstreaker was snapped back into reality and after a few more moments, he made his way out of the med bay, still completely stunned by the turn of events that had taken place.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The next couple of weeks were a blur as far as Sunstreaker was concerned. As he sat in the rec room he found that yet again he was lost in contemplation. He couldn't seem to pull his thoughts away from what Ratchet had said in the med bay weeks ago. As he pondered it, a strange feeling slowly started to creep its way into his systems. A nagging feeling that, for the life of him, he couldn't quite put his finger on. The 'feeling' only got more intense as he realized it had always been there.

It frustrated him to no end. Every time he was in or near the med bay or within a short distance from Ratchet the 'feeling' would become stronger, more concentrated. And that usually left him dazed, so to speak. His mind would go totally blank and he would stop, and just glare off into space. This in turn, had caught the attention of others, and rumors quickly spread. Some were that Sunstreaker was closer then he had ever been to snapping, and the slightest thing could set him off on his killing spree. Others were that he was plotting something horrible, which in some way involved Ratchet getting maimed and/or beaten. All of the rumors caused the mechs around him to space themselves from him, more so then usual. But none of that really mattered to Sunstreaker, because, quite frankly, he was used to this sort of thing.

No, none of the rumors fazed him, that is, until he caught wind of a rumor that suggested Ratchet and himself were engaged in romantic affairs. Then it all made sense, the feeling that had been nagging at his processors, the out of character behavior he displayed when around Ratchet, all of it.

It was love.

Upon realizing what the 'feeling' was, a wave of emotions swept over him. A wave of doubt, of happiness, of enthusiasm, of fear, but most of all, of relief.

Sunstreaker jolted out of his seat, which caused some of the other mechs in the rec room to flick their heads in his direction. All most of them saw was a yellow streak heading out the door. Sunstreaker raced swiftly down the corridors, towards his quarters, mind flooded with emotions. Apparently Sideswipe picked up on his brothers emotional distress because moments after coming to his realization and exiting the rec room, Sideswipe was sending a soothing feeling across their bond and inquiring about the sudden outburst.

/ Hey... Sunny? What's wrong? / Sideswipe asked worriedly, with an undertone of drowsiness. /I was jerked out of recharge, when all the sudden there was a wave of anxiety coming from your side of the bond. /

/ Sides, you're in our room right?! / Sunstreaker barked, coming off more angery then desperate.

/ Y-ya, why? / Sideswipe replied nervously.

/Good, stay there… I'll be there in a klik./


	2. Chapter 2

Sideswipe wasn't really expecting any of it

Sideswipe wasn't really expecting any of it. But to his credit he was trying his hardest to be serious about the whole thing. Moments before, Sunstreaker had gotten so emotional that it caused Sideswipe to awake from his recharge. The yellow twin stormed in the room, with what looked to be the intent to kill written on his face. Sunstreaker flapped himself down on the recharge berth beside his twin. The anger all at once vanished form his features, as a very trouble look found its way onto his face. Then silence. Finally Sunstreaker brought his head up, optics staring off into nothing.

"I love Ratchet…" he said, his voice barley a whisper. That simple statement almost sent Sideswipe tumbling off the berth.

"W-wha?!" Shock was woven into the red twins voice.

"I am in love with Ratchet." Sunstreaker replied grimly, almost as if he were immensely ashamed of himself.

"…How?" Was all Sideswipe could think to say. He wasn't really confused about how love worked but how his twin had hidden this from him. Sunstreaker shrugged lazily, and then turned to his brother.

"What should I do…?" Sunstreaker voiced helplessly.

The room was then engulfed in a shroud of silence. The only noise that broke the silence was when either brother sifted uncomfortably. This continued for a long while, until a soft snigger escaped Sideswipe. Sunstreaker gazed at his twin questionably, as the red bot vibrated in his seat, obviously trying to hold back a fit of giggles. This made Sunstreaker incredibly annoyed, and he had just prepared to snap at his twin for laughing at him when Sideswipe abruptly stiffened and turn his direction, face painted with mischief.

"Well, it looks like we are going to have to seduce poor little Ratchet. This should prove to be fun…"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Somehow when Sideswipe had said it would be fun, he pictured it being… well, a lot more fun. The past two or so weeks proved fruitless, when it came to their 'seduce Ratchet' scheme. All they had accomplished was to raise a few optic ridges in their endeavor to stalk Ratchet and to get a hair closer to him then they had been before. This came in the form of drinking with him on a regular basis after their shifts. There was another thing that their stalking had accomplished; it had made Sideswipe fall head over heels for the medic as well. Because of their shared spark, Sideswipe could already feel love for Ratchet, through his brother, when they had set out to snag the medics affections. But after spending time, obsessing over how to win his love and watching his every move, Sideswipe had begun to love him as well.

And so the three, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Ratchet sat in their regular, post shift spot, enjoying energon and casually chatting. The Autobots scored a rather lager victory over the Decepticons that day and with minimal injury. In fact the only mech injured was Bluestreak, who had a nice bullet hole added to his ensemble courtesy of Starscream. Luckily the shot to his arm wasn't life threatening, and he was enjoying a peaceful recharge in the med bay. But it was a victory none the less, and holding fast to tradition, they all were enjoying a post battle drink. Many of the bots in the rec room were _**Really **_enjoying their drinks, in abundance, as loud music played and a few danced like retards, heavily influenced by the high-grade.

As the hour became late, many mechs drifted to their rooms, happily over-charged. The occupants of the room kept dwindling down until it was only Ratchet and the twins, sitting and discussing rather useless matters. And somehow that lead to an argument, and that in turn, lead to a fight. And somewhere along the line, Sunstreaker had leaned forwards and kissed Ratchet. Ratchet, still having his wits about him, stared in shock. This expression was mirrored by the twins, who despite being plastered out of their minds still had the wits about them to realize what Sunny had done. Ratchet slowly lifted himself from his seat and backed away.

"I…I should be going…" The medbot managed to squeak out in embarrassment.

That left the twins, who for the longest time just sat there, looking bewildered. Then finally Sides broke the silence.

"We ave Shifts tomorrow…" He slurred as he stood and pulled Sunstreaker to his feet. Sunstreaker could only manage to nod.

The whole way back to their shared room Sunny kept repeating, "I can't believe I did that." Which got a reply of "I can't believe you did that either." from a very tipsy Sides.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Excruciating throbbing of the CPU is what welcomed Sunstreaker as he drifted out of recharge. The night before was a blur and upon sitting upright, so was the room. The spinning sensation that quickly followed evoked a moan of discomfort from the yellow bot. Looking around, his optics fell on the still-recharging Sideswipe at his side on the berth. He just sat there, for the life of him trying to remember the events of the day before. Then a loud beep caught his attention, his shift would begin shortly. He placed his hand on Side's head and rocked the red bots head flippantly. There was a loud, unpleasant groan and then Sideswipe sat up.

"Scrap, my head hurts…" He moaned, "We gotta stop drinking so much…"

"Hurry up and move your aft… We're gonna be late for patrol. I'd rather not have Prowl on my case, when my CPU is still ringing from the high-grade…" Sunstreaker said dryly.

Sides sighed and moved to the door. Today was not going to be a pleasant one. Later, Sideswipe would regret not heeding that bad omen, and making the decision to get out of bed.

As Sideswipe and Sunstreaker arrived to sign in with Prowl and head out on patrol, a distress signal came from a power plant that was being raided by Decepticon forces. The order was immediately send out for them to attack. The group of Autobots sent out to aid the power plant included Ironhide, Ratchet, Mirage, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Hound, Jazz, Trailbreaker and the Twins. The plant was just outside a well-sized human municipality. Unfortunately, it took the Autobots a relatively long time to get to the power plant, and by the time they did arrive, the place was in shambles. Upon arrival, the opposing sides were hurled into battle with each other. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe wasted no time taking down one of the seekers; their infamous jet judo put to good uses.

Sunstreaker had pinned Thundercracker and Sideswipe had just launched onto Skywarps back and began to pummel him, when Starscream, who was immensely fed up with Jet Judo, aimed and fired. The shot collided into Sunstreaker's chest, piercing his armour through and through, and throwing him to the ground. Sideswipe gasped, the shock wave of pain hit him through the bond he and his brother shared; this caused him to release his gripe on Skywarp and plummet to the earth. He hit the ground with quite a bit of force, impacting within meters of his brother. Soon after the twins went down, the Decepticons retreated.

Ratchet, Ironhide, Wheeljack and Jazz all rushed over to where the twin's bodies rest on the ground while the others collected themselves. Sideswipe moved his head upwards and glanced over at his brother's motionless body. He heard the others approach, and their reassurance that he would be ok, but at the same time, all was silent. Jazz carefully picked up Sideswipe's body and laid him next to his brother. Sideswipes whole world was moving incredible slow, his thoughts were slurred and disorganized.

"What's wrong with Sides, Ratchet?" Jazz voiced softly.

"He's gone into shock." Ratchet replied hurriedly, "Sunstreaker's spark chamber was clipped by the shot, he's dying." Ratchet paused and glanced over at Sideswipes body. Sides face was blank, optics wide, with what almost looked like uncertainty. "They share a spark, if Sunstreaker dies, Sideswipe will die with him." He turned his attention back to Sunstreaker. "I don't have the tools to fix this amount of damage here, we need to get them to the med bay."

"We can't move Sunny in this condition, Ratchet, he will never make it!" Wheeljack protested.

"We have to! If we don't get him to the med bay fast, he wont make it anyways!" Ratchet snarled. "I need to hook him up to someone else's System Support, that way he will have a better chance of making it." Ratchet continued.

"I'll do it" Jazz stepped forward "I ain't that damaged from th fight so I don't need th system support right now anyways. Ratchet, ya can carry Sunstreaker and me and Hide can carry Sides'."

"Very well…" The medic said, already half way done hooking Jazz's system support up to Sunstreaker's. There was a loud beeping noise, and Ratchet began to panic "He's crashing!"

Sideswipes last sight was everyone jumping to their feet and scurrying around his brother's body.

"_So this is what its like to die…" _was his last thoughts before the nothingness consumed him.

Then black.


	3. A shy whisper from a dead mech

Ratchet sat next to the still form of Sunstreaker

Ratchet sat next to the still form of Sunstreaker. The shot to the chest should have killed him, and if it had been any other mech it would have, but apparently Primus smiled upon him, and Ratchet was miraculously able to stabilize him and his brother upon returning to the med bay. It had been about a week of non-stop work, but the twins looked as if they were going to pull through.

A soft whispering pulled Ratchet's mind back to the present. Sunstreaker was muttering something while he recharged. No doubt because he was heavily sedated, his CPU kept trying to pull him out of recharge, but the coolant gels and CPU restraints were forcing him to stay in recharge. This caused him to drift somewhere in between consciousness and recharge, which brought about the talking in his sleep.

Ratchet's mind began to drift once again, to matters involving a particular yellow mech, who had been acting rather peculiar for quite a while now. Ratchet couldn't put his finger on it but something had chanced about the yellow mech, not only him, but his twin as well. They had become… more tolerable. Sure they still did stupid stunts like Jet Judo, but other aspects of their behavior had changed, such as they no longer pranked him on a regular basis. In fact, the pranks had all but stopped as of late. The twins had even begun to be courteous towards him. Which lead to them drinking together after their shifts.

But then there was the kiss. Sure, the twins had been over-charged, but something about the whole situation was off. No doubt the twins couldn't even remember the kiss, judging on how wasted they were; it was very unlikely at any rate. But Ratchet remembered it, remembered it perfectly in fact. He hadn't had that much to drink that night, and he still had his wits about him when the kiss was placed. And for same reason he couldn't get his mind off the kiss.

It opened his eyes to facts he couldn't believe he had missed, or had been ignoring, facts about the situation with the twin's recent change in behavior and newfound manners. For it seemed that their behavior towards Ratchet was the only aspect of their manner that had changed. It hadn't taken long for him to realize something was up with the twins, even before the kiss. They still pranked other bots in the Ark, still have a general disrespect towards Prowl and other high ranking officers, and still distanced themselves from the rest of the Ark in general. This easily led to Ratchet concluding that the twins had only changed their views on him.

Then there were the rumors. The twin's attitude change was apparently catching the attention of their fellow Autobots, and as a result the rumors spread like wild fire through the Ark. Some stated that the twins were preparing the mother of all pranks especially for Ratchet. Others stated that something big was going to happen, which involved a sought after promotion and the Twins and Ratchet were somehow entangled in it. But the one that caught Ratchets attention was the rumor that suggested that the three of them were interfacing. That got Ratchet to thinking, why would the twins spend so much time on him? Ratchet had been well informed on the fact that the twins were stalking him, so to speak. And that, added to the list of odd proceeding the twins had shown over the past several weeks, caused Ratchet to conclude that the twins loving him was the most logical explanation. But how could Ratchet be sure on the matter?

"Don… tell… Ratch…"Sunstreaker sighed.

The whisper caught Ratchets attention and he turned to face Sunstreaker. An idea on how to solve the matter hit Ratchet and he cringed at the thought. Sunstreaker was heavily sedated and therefore, if Ratchet altered the CPU restraints just slightly, he could bring Sunstreaker out of recharge just enough to influence him with the power of suggestion into telling Ratchet what he wanted to know. Once he had what he wanted, he just had to reset the CPU restraints back to their appropriate settings. And thanks to the drugs Sunstreaker wouldn't even remember the conversation. It was underhanded and crossed the line in several aspects on respecting others personal space, something Ratchet wasn't accustom to doing. But the fact remained that Ratchet had to know, the more he thought about the twins loving him, the more he grew to enjoy the whole idea.

Deliberation followed his brilliant idea, and then he had reached the conclusion that it was necessary. With that he reset the CPU restraints. Moment's later Sunstreaker's optics flickered dimly on. Ratchet leaned in and, after a moment of composing his self, began his inquires.

"Don't tell Ratchet what?" Ratchet asked shyly.

Sunstreaker shifted on the table but made no indication of replying. At this Ratchet changed his tactics. It was obvious that the yellow mechs wouldn't be able to carry out a conversation in his current mental state, and so Ratchet assumed that he was limited to simple yes and no question, if he wanted this to work. Ratchet decided it was a good idea to test his theory, to make sure that Sunstreaker's replies would be eligible.

"Sunstreaker, do you have a brother?" Ratchet ventured.

At first there was nothing, but then Sunstreaker nodded slightly and softly replied.

"yes…"

Ratchet perked up at the response. It was working!

"Are you an Autobot?"

Again there was a soft "yes" from the yellow mech on the table. Ratchet decided to ask one more question, before beginning the real questions.

"Are you Yellow?"

"huh…?" Was Sunstreaker's response. Ratchet repeated the question and awaited the answer. Finally there was a soft "no" from the yellow twin.

"Hummm… He responded correctly to two out of the three questions…" Ratchet frowned. There was a chance that Sunstreaker's response to the next question would be wrong and that would defeat the whole purpose of doing this. Ratchet pushed that thought to the back of his head and with a nervous gulp asked…

"Sunstreaker, do you love Ratchet?"

"yes…"


	4. Good advice for a stupid mech

"I think Sunstreaker loves me

"I think Sunstreaker loves me."

Wheeljack looked up slowly at his friend, too shocked to speak. The comment came in the middle of a totally unrelated discussion about human politics, and therefore, took Wheeljack completely by surprise.

"Come again?"

"I think that Sunstreaker loves me… not only him but Sideswipe as well…" Ratchet said in an undertone.

Wheeljack was utterly blown away by the turn in their conversation. Ratchet and Wheeljack had been friends for a long time, but never did Wheeljack think he was on such a level that Ratchet trusted him with something like this. Ratchet usually kept these things to himself, so it's no surprise that the inventor was thrown off by the medic's sudden need of comfort.

"And you think so because?…" The inventor finally managed.

"Because I asked him…" Ratchet stated, with a clear tone of sadness and shame in his voice.

Wheeljack, yet again, was taken aback by the medic's words. "So you _think _he loves you because he _told_ you he loves you, but _your_ not sure if he loves you?" Wheeljack concluded confusedly.

"Yes… and no… Sunstreaker may not have been in his right mind when I asked." Ratchet seemed immensely uncomfortable by the whole situation.

"Ok you lost me Ratchet… Start from the beginning." Wheeljack observed Ratchet expectantly. After a few moments of gathering his thoughts Ratchet explained himself, as only he knew how, with a rant.

"Well you see, for a while now the twins have been acting funny around me, you had to have noticed it, I mean everyone in the ark noticed it. And I just let it slide, because… well because when they aren't acting like complete idiots or pranking the living crap out of you, they are really nice to be around. And its common knowledge that the three of us have been drinking together after our shifts and that sprang from the fact that they are really nice to be around when they aren't being unsociable or plain annoying. But then there was this… This… nagging 'feeling' in the back of my processors that something wasn't right. I mean it didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that the twins might have affection for me, especially after the kiss…"

"Kiss?!" Up until that point Wheeljack was nodding and making the occasional 'ahuh' sound to show he was following but when the information about the kiss was thrown out there, he couldn't help but blurt out his thoughts. "What kiss?!"

"Well, one day after our shifts, we all had a little to much energon, and, well… Sunstreaker kissed me…" If Ratchet were human, he'd be as red as a radish at this point.

"He kissed you?"

"Yes but we were all a little over-charged…"

"And…" Wheeljack asked after a moment of silence.

"And?" Ratchet seemed generally confused.

"And what happened after the kiss?"

"I left right after it happened…"

Wheeljack sighed and shook his head; Ratchet was clearly upset over this. "And what else makes you think they love you?"

"Well, I asked Sunstreaker if he loved me and he said yes."

"So what's the dilemma?" Wheeljack was getting the feeling the medic was leaving something rather important out.

"Well Sunstreaker was sedated when I asked." Ratchet said, in an almost inaudible whisper.

"He was sedated!! How did you even ask him…" Wheeljacks optics narrowed "You messed with the CPU restraints didn't you?"

Ratchet lower his head. "I'm sorry… I had to know…"

Wheeljack sighed a deep, unhappy sigh before continuing. "So you think the twins love you because they are being nice to you, one of them kissed you when you all were over-charged and because one of them told you he loved you when he was under the influence of CPU slowing drugs, ya that all sounds like rock hard evidence." Wheeljack couldn't help but sound sarcastic. Ratchet didn't take well to the criticism.

"There's more then that!" He snapped even though there really wasn't. At this Wheeljack lifted an optic ridge; one asset of being friends with another for so long is that you can read them like a book.

"And where are the twins now?" Wheeljack deadpanned.

"They were discharged for the med bay about two hour ago. Last I saw them, Bluestreak was taking them to the rec room." Ratchet replied hesitantly.

"Ahuh." Was all Wheeljack replied.

"Well what do you think?" Ratchet asked upsettingly of his friend.

"I think you love them back…" Wheeljack said calmly.

"WHAT?!" Ratchet yelped.

"You heard me. You love them back. You wouldn't be this upset about it if you didn't. Lets look at the facts shall we? You messed with a medical tool _while_ said medical tool was in use on a patient, something you would never do. _And_ you sought advice for a personal matter, also something you rarely do. _And finally_, you're indecisive, which is very uncharacteristic of you." Wheeljack stated equanimity, almost happily.

Now it was Ratchets turn to be dumfounded by the other's statement. After a moment the medic brought his head up, wide optics meeting the inventors.

"I…love…them…" The ambulances voice was but a whisper.

Upon hearing Ratchets reply and the silence that followed, Wheeljack took the opportunity to add, "As to the matter of what you should do. There isn't enough proof to say the twins love you with 100 accuracy, but if they do, then I think you should wait for them to make the first move. Knowing their personalities, if they do indeed love you, they will most likely be the ones to make the first move." Wheeljack paused. "Anyways, I have to go get some supplies from the storage, do me a favor and help me lug the stuff back here."

"Why would I do something like that?" Ratchet chuckled, elbowing Wheeljack playfully in the side. Not minding in the least that Wheeljack was trying to change the subject.

"Because I was a good friend and helped you with your conundrum and I am going to continue being a good friend and keep the conversation we had a secret." Wheeljack said, teasingly back.

"Slagging rights you are, or I would be forced to weld you to the ceiling." Ratchet shot back playfully. "Came on then, lets go get the supplies." Ratchet said as he pulled Wheeljack to his feet.


	5. A silent curse from one unlucky mech

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe leaned against the wall outside of Wheeljacks laboratory, focusing on the conversation going on insi

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe leaned against the wall outside of Wheeljacks laboratory, focusing on the conversation going on inside. Ratchet had pieced together that the twins loved him, but thanks to his evidence being shaky at best, Ratchet was extremely unsure of himself.

"Well, I asked Sunstreaker if he loves me and he said yes." Ratchet could be heard through the wall.

/When did you tell Ratchet you love him?!/ Sideswipe shot across their bond.

/ I don't remember telling him anything like that…/ Sunstreaker replied.

"-- sedated!! How did you even ask him…you messed with the CPU restraints didn't you?" Wheeljacks muffled voice replied to what ever Ratchet had said.

/ Oh I get it, you where under when he asked… That's underhanded… I like it…/ Sideswipe chuckled.

"… I had to know" Mostly every thing Ratchet said was to muffled to hear, but thankfully the twins could make out some of the more important things. And most of the things Wheeljack was saying to Ratchet did nothing to help assure him in any way. But to be fair to Wheeljack, mostly all his points were unbiased and overall valid.

"Well what do you think?" Ratchets voice sounded upset.

"I think you love them back…" Wheeljack said calmly.

/ WHAT?!/ Both twins yelled over the bond.

"WHAT?!" Came a yelp from the other side of the wall.

"You heard me. You love them back. You wouldn't—"

/Hey Sunny…. Hey! Sunny/ Sideswipe was nagging over the bond.

/ What!?/ Sunstreaker's voice was understandably annoyed.

/Wheeljacks convincing Ratchet he loves us right?/ Sideswipe asked innocently.

/Ya, sounds that way, why?/

/ I was just thinking that, because he was, we would have to make it up to him…/ Sideswipe sang happily.

/You mean Wheeljack, why?/ Sunny asked confused.

/ Because he is helping our cause…/ Sideswipe chuckled.

/ Guess so…/ Sunstreaker began to chuckle as well.

The conversation suddenly stopped and the twins had to push up against the wall to make out what was going on. Nether of the rooms occupants were talking.

/What's going on in there?/ Sideswipe moaned.

/Shut up, Sides!/ Sunstreaker barked, pushing further into the wall.

There was a moment of silence before an almost inaudible whisper came from Ratchet.

"I…Love…Them…"

/YOU HEAR THAT!! HE LOVES US!! SUNNY, SUNNY YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID?!/ Sideswipe screamed with joy over the bond.

/Shut up, you slagging glitch-head!/ Sunstreaker cursed back /I cant hear what's going on in there with you yelling in my head!/

Silence.

"--I think you should wait for them to make the first move—"

/ Hear that, Jacks telling him to wait for us to make the first move… Primus must love us… If Ratchet listens to him, the ball will be in our field!/ Sideswipe chirped.

/ The ball will be in our field? / Sunstreaker wasn't familiar with that saying.

/ It's a human saying; the humans use it when talking about dating… baseball, though I don't understand how the two are connected. Any-ways, it means we get to decide what the next move is…/ Sideswipe explained.

"--I have to go get some supplies for the storage, do me a favor and help me lug the stuff back here?"

/ Scrap! Their leaving, run!/ The brothers panicked, scrambling to their feet and running around a corner in the nick of time. Ratchet and Wheeljack emerged from the lab and made their way down the hall. The twins, who Primus apparently loves more then they deserved, weren't spotted by the two mechs as they past the corner they were hiding behind.

Sideswipe sighed loudly and slummed down against the wall into a sitting position; his brother quickly following.

"So now what?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Even though the next move was up to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they still had no idea what to do. Sideswipe frequently repeated, "This love business is tricky." And that summed up fairly well how the twins felt. They would stay up and list ideas of how to snag Ratchet's spark. Some ideas were less than realistic, others were too boring for the twin's tastes and others would just take to much time. This frustrated the twins to no slagging end, they were idea people and to drawing up blanks like this could literally drive them insane. The fact that the twins couldn't come up with a decent plan wasn't the thing that bothered them the most though, the thing that quite frankly made them want to bash their heads against a wall was that even if they came up with a tolerable plan, they wouldn't have time to put said plan into effect. These days Decepticon activities were through the roof and literally every Autobot in the Ark was swamped with extra work, including the twins. Even the after shift drinks had stopped. Either the twins were away fighting Decepticons or Ratchet was to busy piecing back together someone else who had been fighting Decepticons.

It seemed that there was no hope for them when an order to retrieve a special package came in. This was no ordinary package. A human science firm had stumbled upon a super matter formula, and had asked Ratchet and Perceptor to take control of the research, because the humans didn't have the tools or the knowledge to test the formula. Both Ratchet and Perceptor jumped at the idea, a formula of that caliber would prove fascinating to study. But because of a possible information leak, the Autobots couldn't simply go and pick up the formula.

So a plan to send two separate groups was put into action. The fist group would consist of scouts, to check the place out and the second group would consist of warriors, to transport and protect the formula. The catch-22 was that the warriors were the bait. It had been reported that Laserbeak had been sighted near both the Autobot base and the Science firm right around the time the firm contacted the Autobots with their proposal. And so it was assumed that the Decepticons were planning to intercept the formula on its way to the Autobot base, this assumption was being made off of the fact that the Decepticons had yet to attack the firm. So the plan was to send the scouts in and pick up the formula early. The scouts, who would be disguised as ordinary vehicles, would pick up the formula and transport it to a nearby city, and wait for the signal to move out. Then the second group would be sent in to pick up a decoy. The second group would be divided into two smaller groups, a ground group and an aerial group. The aerial group would travel behind the ground group, prepared to strike if necessary. It was crucial that the aerial group stay at a certain altitude to evade enemy sensors, which meant in the case of an attack the ground group would be on its own for a brief time span. In theory, the ground group would be able to hold its own until the aerial group arrived. The objective of splitting up the second group was to ambush the enemy, if it did attack as planned.

The first group, which consisted of Hound, Bluestreak, Mirage and two mini-bots, was deployed in the early morning. In the afternoon, the second group was deployed, which consisted of Ratchet, (who was mainly going for medical assistance) Smokescreen, Jazz, Ironhide and the twins. And shortly after the ground groups was dispatched, the aerial group was deployed, which consisted of the Aerialbots and Skyfire (who was going as transport for injured mechs if the need arose.)

The plan was going smoothly, the scouts had made the pick-up and departed to the city and the second group was on its way to get the decoy. That's when the plan went to hell. The second group, who had moments before arrived at the city, called for emergency backup. Apparently the information leak was greater then it had been assumed and the plan details had been leaked to the enemy. An order for the second group to abandon its mission and provide backup to the first group was given shortly after the first group was ambushed in the city. Unfortunately this played into the enemy's ploy perfectly, for the aerial group separated from the ground group and sped off to the city, which left the ground group with no aerial coverage.

The Decepticon seekers and Coneheads then ambushed the ground group. The Decepticon jets drove the Autobot cars off the road and towards a cliff in the distance; the ground group was at a serious disadvantage on the rough desert surface. It was already too late when the Autobots figured out the Decepticon's plans; they were going to force the cars up against the cliff wall and then bring the rock surface crashing down on top of them. As the cars reached the cliff the Decepticons aimed and fired, and the rock surface came crumbling down around them. The Autobots were buried under half of the cliffs weight, with little hope of rescue.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ratchet lifted his head slowly and onlined his optics. There was nothing but black to meet his gaze. There was a sharp pain in his arm and he wasn't able the move his legs. A quick self-diagnostics scan told him he was losing a lot of energon, which was escaping mostly from his chest and right arm. The inability to move his legs was probably do to the fact that he was pinned by the rocks, or at least, that was his conclusion.

A moan broke the silence in the rock chamber as two optics onlined next to him. The optics slowly turned to meet his, one optic was glowing dimmer then the other. This meant one of two things. One: the energon flow inside the optic was being disrupted and therefore causing it to glow dimmer, or two: the outside of the optic was damaged and leaking energon causing the optic to lose the power it needed to stay fully lit. Ratchet sighed, that's the problem with being a medic, it always made the situation even more bleak and discouraging.

"Who am I so lucky to be buried with?" Sideswipe unmistakable voice broke the silence.

"Ratchet." Ratchet jumped at the sound of his voice, which was weak, gruff and laced with pain.

"Kool…" Sideswipes reply almost sounded sarcastic.

Sideswipe's optics slowly became higher as the red mech stood. He turned on his headlights and flashed them in Ratchets direction.

"Primus! Ratchet!" He gasped at seeing Ratchets half buried form. Ratchet was lying in a puddle of what could only be his energon, with a ton of rocks on his lower section and he was completely missing his right arm from the shoulder down. Sideswipe was no medic (far from it in fact) but even he could tell Ratchet was in big trouble if he didn't get medical help soon. Sides went to work on unburying Ratchet and soon after he was able to ease ratchet out from underneath the rock pile, and set him compassionately down against the wall of the rock chamber.

Ratchet, upon begin set down, grabbed Sideswipe in an embrace, it had been a while since he had been this frightened and he couldn't quite control his actions. Sideswipe held the shaking mech tenderly, rubbing his back lightly. Ratchet felt so at peace in the other mechs arms, and began to relax against him. It wasn't until a soft beeping began to emit from Ratchet that either mech moved. Ratchet pushed Sideswipe away and did another self-diagnostics, what it told him was macabre.

Ratchet was dying.


	6. A hopeful plea from a damaged mech

Sunstreaker bolted up onto his feet and began to look around frantically, as if looking for someone

Sunstreaker bolted up onto his feet and began to look around frantically, as if looking for someone. The other two mechs with him looked up at him sharply, startled by his sudden movements. Sunstreaker had been sitting in a circle with Jazz and Smokescreen, before his unexpected outburst. He moved to a wall and placed his head against it.

Jazz and Smokescreen just sat there and watched the possessed mech in front of them. Smokescreen brought a hand up to his head, pointed his index finger towards himself, and began moving his hand in small circles, indicating to Jazz his opinion about the yellow mechs mental status. Jazz turned his attention back to Sunstreaker who was now lightly taping the rock wall.

"Ummm… Sunny, wha' cha' doin?"

"Shush!" Was all Jazz received as a reply.

"Primus, you haven't finally snapped have you, because I don't really want to be stuck underneath half a cliff with a _crazy_ person." Smokescreen sighed.

Sunstreaker turned and shot what had to be his most ferocious look at Smokescreen.

"Look, when I 'shush' you, what I am really saying is shut up, so shut your slagging trap!" Sunstreaker replied sardonically and went back to the wall. A faint tapping noise was now pulsing off the wall; no doubt, the tapping noise was coming from the other side of the wall.

0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe had just dug Ratchet out from underneath a rocks he was buried in and leaned him against the wall when, through the bond, Sunstreaker's mind brushed up against his. Sideswipe leaped to his feet and began frantically looking around, calling his brothers name through the bond. Then come Sunstreaker's reply, he reached out through the bond and called his brothers name. Once the pair was certain that the others full attention was on the bond, questions begin to fly from the twin's minds across the bond. In seconds the twins knew where the other one was and the shape he and those present with him were in. Ratchet looked up questionably at Sideswipes sudden display of odd behavior. The red twin was now circling the small rock room, tapping on the walls. Every time he made a complete circle of the room, Sideswipe tapped a little harder, until he was out right bashing his exceptionally damaged hands as hard as he could muster against the stonewalls.

Ratchet was just about to yell something along the lines of, _'what the slag are you doing?_' or _'your going to damaged your hands further'_ or _'have you lost your slagging mind?!'_, when two things occurred to him. One: all Cybertronian twins have shared sparks, which is pretty much the same thing as being bonded and two: even if Ratchet told Sideswipe to stop what he was doing, the red twin would probably just ignore him, because the fact was, this could be their only hope. That, and Ratchet hadn't the strength to stop him. Sideswipe stopped rotating at the far wall, and stood still for a moment, before beginning to beat the wall once again.

And then from the other side of the wall, came a faint tapping sound.

"You hear that Ratchet!? They're there! Behind this wall! Sunny, Jazz and Smokescreen!" Sideswipes face lit up, like a human infant that had just received a sugar supplement.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Its Sides ain't it?" Jazz said softly.

"Ya…" Sunstreaker frowned sadly.

A few more minutes past and then Sunstreaker pushed himself away from the wall and stood in front of the other two mechs.

"On your feet, we have work to do." Sunstreaker said lackadaisically.

"Wha?" The other two mechs frowned.

"I was just talking to Sides." Sunstreaker sighed jadedly.

"And, what did he say?" Smokescreen replied.

"He said, that he is in a small rock cavern like ours, and Ratchets there with him. He sustained minimal injury during the landslide, but…" Sunstreaker paused, his face went from worried to something that resembled pain, as if what he was going to say wounded him greatly. "Apparently Ratchets in bad shape… He's dying."

"WHAT?!" Jazz and Smokescreen croaked.

"Sides said Ratchets leaking a lot of energon; he's already lost a lot. And that he has a large hole in his chest and is missing his right arm from the shoulder down. Sides says he is going to try to patch up the hole in Ratchets chest… " Sunstreaker sniveled. "We need to start digging…"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe leaned in front of Ratchet; attentively watching him as he studied the red mechs damaged hands.

"There's nothing I can do without the proper medical tools." Ratchet sighed. Sideswipes hands had been stripped down to the basic components in the landslide and were sparking with every movement.

"Then I can't do it!!" Sides peeped despondently.

"You have to… If you don't I'll die of energon loss." Ratchet stated solemnly, as he subspaced several medical supplies. The tone he used scared Sideswipe something fierce; the situation was bad. Real bad.

"Ok lets begin."

Sideswipe cycled his vents afflictively and took the medical tools out of the medic's hands, laying them in a line on the floor beside him.

"Ok, first you are going to take the CPU gel and insert it into the back of my neck. Then you need to disconnect my chest armor. Once my amour is off, you will see bunches of cords running up my chest. On the off-left side of my chest pull the cords gently over. You should at this point see my main energon pump. There should be a small leak somewhere on the pumps surface, once you find it weld it shut. The CPU gel with slow my processors so I will most likely be unable to lead you through the procedure, so if you need me to go over it again or if you have any questions now's the time to ask." The medic was unnervingly calm in the face of death as he explained the medical procedure to the red mech in front of him.

Sideswipe had basic first add training, but that didn't sway the inexorable sensation of solicitous that was flooding his CPU. If he made a mistake, Ratchet, the center of his affections, could die. The whole situation was wrong in Sideswipes opinion as he snatched the CPU gel off the floor and pulled Ratchet forwards. '_At least the gel will stop the pain…_' Sideswipe mused as he jabbed the gel containers pointed end into Ratchets neck Ratchet gasped in pain before going limp. He slumped forwards into Sideswipes shoulder, optics dimly flickering. The gel didn't knock Ratchet out but it did incapacitate him to a certain degree.

Sideswipe tenderly leaned Ratchet back against the rock wall, and presided to detach his chest armor. Sideswipe was taken aback, for laying ever so peacefully in Ratchets now widely exposed chest was his spark, glimmering impeccably. Sideswipe forced back the urge to reach out and touch the translucent blue spark, forcing his attentions on the left side of Ratchets chest. He raised his hand up to the cords that lay in Ratchets chest and pushed them reluctantly aside. With every movement a jolt of energy shot from Sideswipe hands, and ripped into Ratchets systems, causing the medic to groan loudly. Sideswipe quickened his pace, making sure every movement counted. He examined the now-revealed energon pump for abrasions, frantically scanning it's surface. Sideswipe unconsciously grinned as he spotted the leak. There, on the upper side off the pump, lay a vertical gash, spurting energon with every cycle Ratchet's systems made. Sideswipe eased his hand around the pump and squeezed, cutting of the flow of energon. Then he began to patch up the hole, all the time contemplating what his next course of action should entail.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sunstreaker's movements became unsteadier with every passing moment. It was obvious that the yellow mechs internal systems had been damaged, for coolant and energon was leaking out from beneath his armor. But try as Jazz and Smokescreen might, and they did, Sunstreaker refused to stop digging. They were so close to the other side and Sunstreaker could feel it. His spark reached for Sideswipe's, and his CPU yearned to see Ratchet, both desires pushed him on, forced him to keep going and ignore the exhaustion and pain that radiated off his being. He dug his hands into the rock wall, further then anytime before, desperately trying to reach the only two mechs he loved on the other side. He pulled a large rock free, and the wall came with it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo

After repairing Ratchet's energon pump, Sideswipe went back to the far wall and began to dig. Every once in a while there came a groan from the medic, which was usually followed by a slurred comment that he shouldn't be digging with damaged hands. Sideswipe was amazed by the fact that even with his CPU working at minimal capacity, the medic still was able to complain and shoot off orders. But eventually Ratchet fell into recharge, and the small rock chamber was in snared in silence.

"Sides, I hav' to ask you somethin'…" Ratchets slurred words broke the silence.

Sideswipe jumped at the sudden noise and turned to look at Ratchet, who was now trying desperately to stand up. Sideswipe quickly made his way over to the medic and forced him back down.

"Hey, I thought you were in recharge…" Sideswipe said soothingly.

"I hav' to ask you somethin'…" Ratchet looked up at him, his face a mixture of confusion and worry, he looked a lot like a toddler asking an adult a question that they weren't sure they were allowed to ask.

"What would you like to know, Ratchet?" Sideswipe asked in a kind tone.

"Do you love me?"

Sideswipe nearly toppled over with that. He had not expected it; clearly the CPU gel was messing with Ratchets thoughts. Or was it? Either way Sideswipe didn't really know how to answer the medic. He pondered on it for a moment, mulling over what his reply should be. Then when he found exactly what it was he wanted to do, he smiled and leaned in closer to Ratchet, catching the medic's lips in a soft kiss. It took Ratchet a moment to understand what was going on. Slowly it registered in his mind that he was kissing Sideswipe, he yelped quietly against the red mechs lips and his optics became as round as saucers. Sideswipe pulled suavely away and regarded a now very flustered Ratchet.

"I love you with all my spark…" He hummed, as the wall behind them began to shake and then collapsed in on itself.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sunstreaker, Jazz and Smokescreen all backed hurriedly away for the wall, and watched as it came down. Before the dust cloud that the wall's collapse had created could settle, a red blur shot from the hole, which the collapse had also created. It took a second for all three mechs to realize that the moment there was an entrance; Sideswipe had shot from it and tackled his twin. This realization came to Sunstreaker before it graced itself upon Jazz and Smokescreen.

"Get off me you Glitch!!" Sunstreaker roared.

"Its nice to see you too, Sunshine." Sideswipe scooted of his twin in time to evade his twin's fist. The twins stood up in unison and faced Jazz and Smokescreen.

"Where's Ratchet at?" Jazz said to no one in particular.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Jazz, Sunstreaker and Smokescreen all stormed into the small chamber that contained Ratchet and knelt by the medic. They talked to Ratchet for a period of time, even after they were all informed by Sideswipe that the medbot would not respond due to the CPU gel. Slowly all the occupants of the room no longer fancied talking and all drifted apart. Sideswipe had propped Ratchet up against his side, the medic's head lying on his shoulder, with Sunstreaker taking up post on the opposite side of Ratchet. Smokescreen sat off to the right of the three and Jazz paced the length of the small chamber before growing weary of the activity and joined his comrades on the floor.

There were few things said between them. Jazz played his music for a while, but eventually, as despair for their current situation sank in, the mechs of the small room all began to welcome the silence, even Jazz seemed uncharacteristically content with the quiet. And one by one, they all drifted into Recharge.

It had been the rumbling and the general shaking sensations that had jerked Sideswipe out of recharge. By the time he powered up his optics Jazz, Sunstreaker and Smokescreen were all on their feet, weapons pointed towards the ceiling. It was then that Sideswipe noticed the gaping hole in the roof. There was dust floating gently through the air, with dim rays of light shining through the dust cloud, which suggested that the roof had presumably just given out. The other mechs all stared with wide optics at the ceiling, giving Sideswipe the impression that the ceiling didn't just cave in by itself. As the dust cleared, several figures appeared just outside of the hole. The sunlight behind them made it impossible to make out their features, all the Autobots in the cave could see was black outlines of three, rather larger bots. Sideswipe, who was now entirely frenzied, tightened his grip on the still recharging medic, which he had seized shortly after coming out of recharge. Every one in the rock chamber remained motionless, optics fastened on the dark figures. The closest of the black figures stepped forwards.

"Drop your weapons."


	7. re·la·tion·ship for the foolish mech

Ratchets mind slowly began to form complete thoughts

."Drop your weapons." Was what Ratchets semiconscious self could hear. Scuffling of feet, and clicking of amour was distinct in the background. Or was it the foreground? Ratchet was so low on power he couldn't switch on his optics. His mind began to sink back into stasis. He couldn't fight it; his energon levels were well below the 50 percent line. Warnings flashed across his vision, informing him of the fact that he was dying. He was already half dead as it was, with the treat of the unknown enemy added to the equation, Ratchets hope of living became dimmer by the minute.

The last thing Ratchet heard was a gun fire.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

'Black…'

Ratchets mind slowly began to form complete thoughts. The fact that he had conscious thought in death baffled him. It struck him as being odd that he _would_ be self-aware when he was one with Primus.

Ratchets optics flickered on. They weren't met with darkness, or the sight of earth on top of him, but instead were met with the familiar sight of the med bay ceiling. '_Well then, I guess that explains having conscious thoughts…I'm not deceased_.' He thought, happy relief conquered his mind as the situation unfolded. Then Bluestreak dominated his view.

"Hey, your awake!" He sounded more like he was singing then talking. Ratchet, meanwhile, just stared at the gunner with a totally vacant expression on his face.

"Ummm… Ratchet? Are you feeling well? Well, actually that's a stupid question if you think about it, cause you are in the med bay and are hurt and all… Ok, let me rephrase that, so it's not stupid… Oh, and so it makes more sense, seeing as your hurt and most probably tired, which would make it hard for you to answer hard questions. Not that I am saying your stupid when you are tired, I am just saying that, if I just woke up for being in recharge for almost a week, I wouldn't want to answer big questions either… Ummm…er… So how are you feeling? I mean we--" Bluestreak rambled happily on, well Ratchet sat himself up on the table and turned to face the young bot.

"Bluestreak"

"Ya Ratchet?"

"Shut up…"

"Oh… Oh! I'm sorry I was rambling wasn't I… I mean I didn't mean to, I am just so happy to see that your ok and--" Bluestreak began on yet another roving outburst of words.

'_And he's off ladies and gentleman!'_ Ratchet thought derisively, as his optics begun to wander about the med bay. It was untidy and unorganized, which wasn't the way he remembered leaving it. Ratchet was a clean freak, and the med bay was far from well kept at this point, which meant…

"Wheeljacks been running the med bay!" He blurted out angrily. He wasn't mad that Wheeljack had taking control of the med bay in his absence-- no, he expected the inventor to take over the med bay if there ever was a need for it, and was appreciative that he did. The thing that irritated the medic was the fact that for the next week or so he wouldn't be able to find anything he was looking for, because no doubt Wheeljack had moved his tools or used them and didn't put them back where he had gotten them. Ratchet was organized, to the point of obsession some would say, and he _hated_ when people used his things and didn't put them back _exactly_ where they had gotten them. In fact, it grinded his gears just to think about someone making a mess of _his _med bay.

"Hello Ratchet… Cybertron to Ratchet… Anyone in there?" Ratchet turned his attention back to the nattering gunner.

"Why are you in here, Bluestreak?" He asked dryly.

"In here? Oh you mean in the med bay… of course, what else would you mean, shesh… I… Ummm… I come in here to visit Hound, he was injured in a battle this morning and I thought it would be nice to come and see him… But when I got here he was in recharge, and I figured it probably wasn't a good idea to wake an injured mech, so I was just going to go and try again later, when you woke up… I was really worried about you too, even though I came in here to see Hound and not you… I mean I want to see you too… But… Ummm… Any-ways, I am happy you're all right…" Bluestreak had a genuinely innocent smile on his face, and it made him look like a tot to Ratchet.

'_Primus, how am I support to be mad, when he acts so… so… childishly cute?'_ Ratchet snickered to himself.

"Ok, where is Wheeljack?" The medic inquired.

"Where indeed." Wheeljacks voice called from behind the two mechs. Ratchet and Bluestreak jumped in surprise and turned to the owner of the voice.

"Hey Ratchet, nice to see your _beautiful_ optics put to work…" Wheeljack teased playfully.

"Shut up, Wheeljack…" Ratchet retorted huffishly.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The rec room was unusually quite for that time of day. There were a few mechs chatting, but most of the occupants of the room were thoroughly distracted by a movie that the twins had been watching. The movie featured an abnormally famous Cowboy by the name of Chuck Norris and Sideswipe greatly amused the mechs sitting around him with ridiculous facts on said actor. The atmosphere of the room was peaceful— Peaceful that is, until Bluestreak flew into the room, flail his arms like a crazed fan girl at a rock concert. He ran up to the rather large group of bots sitting around the TV. Everyone's heads darted up at him, except Sideswipe who took his time shifting his gaze from the TV to the gunner.

"Hey, Bluestreak… What's the best part of the waking up?" Sideswipe chirped before the overly exited gunner could get a word out.

"Wha?… I mean what is it…?" Bluestreak was totally thrown off by that question and it served to momentarily sidetrack the Datsun from his urgent news.

"The best part of waking up isn't Folgers in your cup. Its Knowing Chuck Norris didn't kill you in your sleep." Sideswipe answered gleefully.

"What's coffee? What's a Chuck Norris?" There was a long moment of silence after Bluestreaks reply to the joke, and then the group erupted into a paroxysmal of laughter.

"WHAT!?" Blue felt partly hurt, partly confused. Once the laughter dead down Sunstreaker asked what Bluestreak had been so worked up about when he had entered.

"Ratchets awake!" He sang joyfully.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Explain."

Wheeljack blinded in confusion. "What?"

"Explain. How did I get here? How long was I out? What did you do to _my_ med bay? Last I remember I was offlining, while being buried underneath half a slagging cliff. Explain it, the whole story, beginning to end… Now." Ratchet stated clearly and calmly.

"Hummm…. Lets see… Now keep in mind this is mostly what I heard because I wasn't actually there when you were rescued. Ok, as far as I was told, you guys were ambushed by Decepticons seekers, who backed you into a cliff and buried you there. I heard that Sideswipe had to patch you up because—"

"Because I had a leak in my energon pump…" Ratchet cut in. "Its coming back now, I can sort of remember being in a small rock chamber with Sideswipe, and I can remember him giving me the CPU gel… But then it's all fussy…"

"Well, that is how CPU gel works… Any-who, are you going to let me tell the story?" Wheeljack tried his best to sound serious, but failed when a hint of amusement snuck into him tone.

"Go on…"

"Ok… Here was I? Oh yes! You had an energon leak, and yes, Sideswipe did patch it up. In fact he did a good job of patching it up. While all of you were trapped underneath the rubble, Ironhide managed to escape and fight off the Decepticon jets until backup arrived. Shortly after the Autobots arrived, the Decepticons retreated. After that, the rescue team, which was made up of Optimus, Hoist, Inferno and Grapple, went to work on digging you guys out. Apparently when the rescue team finally broke into your little rock hole, all the mechs with you in the rock chamber were up and had their weapons brawn; ready to fight. Everyone, that is, except Sideswipe, who was clinging to you. You here lifted out of the hole and whisked back here for emergency medical treatment…" Wheeljack paused in his story when he noticed the far off look on Ratchets face. "You still with me Ratchet?"

"Humm…? Oh, yes…I was just thinking… Keep going…" Ratchets reply was but a whisper.

"Oh no you don't. I know something up. I have only seen that expression on your face a couple of times, but I know that when you get that look, you are withholding important information. Now spill, or I wont finish the story." Wheeljack grinned under his mask when Ratchet sighed heavily.

"Its none of your business…" Ratchet frowned. "I remember bits and pieces after the CPU gel was inserted into my neck…"

Wheeljack thought there might be more to the explanation, but after a few moments of silence he couldn't wait any longer. "Like what?"

"Like Sideswipe… Sideswipe telling me that he loved me with all his spark… And kissing me…" Ratchet ducked him head in embarrassment.

"Really?! That great!" Wheeljack responded enthusiastically.

"Great? How is that great? If anything it just makes the whole situation more confusing!" Ratchet protested. Wheeljack could only snicker at his friend.

"Poor naïve Ratchet." He cooed, as he sat next to the medic on the berth and patted him on the back. "Its great, because _that_ was the first move. Now you know where they stand. Its all smooth sailing from there."

"How so?" Ratchet seemed generally confused with what Wheeljack was implying.

"Well, now that you all know where you stand on the subject, starting a relationship would be the next step, I mean—"

"A _Relationship?_!!" Ratchet choked out.

"Yes, a re·la·tion·ship." Wheeljack replied mockingly.

"Why? Isn't that a little fast?"

"Look, its not like I told you to bond with them, I just said you should start a relationship. I believe the humans call it dating. If it isn't right then just break it off. Simple as that." Wheeljack answered calmly.

"So should I go talk to them? But then how would that work… I mean, I cant just walk on up to them and say 'Hey you guys wanna interface?' But then again, they are young bots, and that might work…" Ratchet trailed off into thought yet again.

"Listen, you should go talk to them, but don't be so blunt… It'll make you sound desperate—"

"Desperate!?" Ratchet cut in yet again, and now Wheeljack was beginning to get annoyed.

"Yes desperate."

"I am not desperate!" Ratchet retorted somewhat desperately.

"Really?" Wheeljack stated in a mockingly calm manner.

"Yes really! Who died and made you the dating guru?!" Ratchet was obviously beginning to get worked up and the last thing Wheeljack wanted was Ratchet to start hurling objects at his head.

"Calm down. If you don't want my help then I wont give it…"

"Fine, then just keep going with the story."

"Fine… I completely last my spot. Oh well, I'll just start from were the rescue party drilled into your rock prison. When the team did finally get into your hole Jazz, Sunstreaker and Smokescreen all had their weapons drawn. I heard that Optimus all most fell over out of surprise; apparently the whole rescue team hadn't expected anyone in the hole to be up and about. Oh, and Smokescreen accidentally fired at Optimus in all the confusion… Said he thought it was Megatron, not Optimus… "

"And then we were brought back here." Ratchet finished.

"Yes… And to answer your question about how long you were out, I completely rebuilt your arm and fixed all the other bots before you came out of recharge."

Ratchet looked down at his new arm, that work was impeccable and he was immensely grateful. "Thanks Jack…" He said shyly.

Silence spread across the room, as both bots felt inexplicable embarrassed. Wheeljack was about to say something to break the silence when, what sounded like a stampede in the hall caught their attention. The med bay doors crashed upon, and emitted the overly excited crowd of mechs, who flocked to where Wheeljack and Ratchet were sitting. The whole group was yammering in blissful relief at the sight of their fully recovered CMO. Wheeljack and Ratchet glanced over at each other in dismay.

"Bluestreak…" They muttered in unison.


	8. Gungho with words

Ratchet sighed and rolled over, which brought him face to face with Sideswipe

Ratchet sighed and rolled over, which brought him face to face with Sideswipe.

"Oh primus…"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o

After escaping the horde of yammering mechs in the med bay, Ratchet moved swiftly down the corridors looking for two particular troublemakers. He had a mission: Find the twins and talk about his feelings… Which didn't sound so corny in his head when he came up with this plan…

Ratchet had already scoured half the Ark, and hadn't seen so much as a trace of the Lamborghini twins. On top of that no one else had seen or knew where the two hooligans were. The two weren't in the crowd of mechs in the med bay, they weren't on duty, and they weren't in the rec room. Ratchet had to have asked half a dozen bots if they knew of the twin's whereabouts. There was only a hand full of places in the Ark where they could be and Ratchet had already checked half of them. He figured the only places left were either in the training room or in their quarters. If they weren't there then he would have to postpone his search until another time.

"Where are they?" He sighed jadedly.

"Where's who?"

Ratchet jumped and spun around to face Jazz, who had snuck up on him.

"W-what?" Ratchet stammered.

"Where's who?" Jazz happily repeated himself.

"Jazz for once in your life, mind your own business" Ratchet said with a 'humph' and walked away.

"_Where's who_ ain't that hard of a question. The _'who'_ refers to the twins, who you have been lookin for pretty much all day." Jazz's voice called after Ratchet, which made him stop in his tracks and twitch ever so slightly. Ratchet sighed and turned once again to face the Porsche. Jazz just stood there and smiled back, as if he had never said a word. This was all just a game to him, and hate it as much as he like, Ratchet would have to play along if he wanted to get any information out of Jazz.

"And what about the _where,_ Jazz?" Ratchet forced a smile.

"What about it?" Jazz snickered, but then hurriedly backed away as Ratchets fist clenched and he began to move threateningly towards him. "The _where_ is the location of the twins, which is their quarters, or at least that's where they said they were going."

Ratchets smile slowly changed from a forced lopsided grin to a maniacal smirk.

"Thank you, Jazz." Ratchets voice was calm but still carried a clearly distinguishable evil in it.

"Go get em, Lover boy." Jazz sang before Ratchet had a chance to turn and leave.

As a reply Ratchet gawked in utter disbelief, followed by a rebound of "W-what do you mean lover boy?!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe was recharging in his berth? But why?

He looks so peaceful… Ratchet brought his hand to the sleeping mechs cheek and began to stroke it lightly, but then jerked it back when he realized what he was doing. He focused on the sleeping mech beside him, trying to recall the night's events. "Oh primus…" He moaned once again as the memories of the night flooded his CPU. 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

That lazy lop-sided grin that Jazz was famous for made its way across his features. Ratchet was playing along to his game (even if the medic didn't realize it) and it was vastly amusing to the Porsche.

"Well!?"

"Well what?"

"I am getting tired of your little game _Jaz_z!" The medic snarled in warning.

"Oh… But I'm enjoyin it so much, Ratch…" Jazz replied in a false tone of innocents to mask his amusement.

Ratchet threw his arms forwards, caught the special ops officer by his shoulder and jerked him forwards, which brought his face within about an inch of the medics.

"Well, I am not!" The medic's answer was a low growl.

Ratchet straightened in an attempt to leave but Jazz throw his arms around the medic's neck and pulled him in to an awkward hug, resting his forehead on Ratchets.

"Wha!?… L-let me go, Jazz!"

"If your not gonna play by the rules then I'm gonna have ta change the game, lover boy" Jazz cooed merrily.

Ratchets optics narrowed. _'I might as well play along.'_

"And what kind of game do you have in mind, Jazz?"

"A guessin game." Jazz's lop-sided grin was replaced with a wide mischievous smile.

"Hummm… And how will this game work?"

"Guess." Came the Porsche playful reply. "I will ask _you_ a question and _you _will have to answer it, if ya get it right I will ask another question. If ya get it wrong, I'll remain quite til ya get it right."

"Very well, begin." The medic nodded in agreement.

"Why do ya think I keep callin ya lover boy?"

"Because you're obnoxious?" Ratchet snickered. In all truths, the medic had a good idea why Jazz was calling him '_lover boy'_ but the medic found it hard to believe he had been broadcasting his feelings in such a way that others around him could pick up on them.

Silence.

Ratchet let out a burst of air from his vents, which was the equivalent to a human sigh.

"Because I am in love with the twins?"

"Very good, next question!" Jazz sang happily.

"Wait just a minute, how could you possibly know I have feelings for the twins? I didn't tell anyone except Wheeljack… And I am not one to broadcast my mind-set." The medic snapped.

"Uh uh… I'm the one askin the questions, Ratchet…" Jazz paused. "Next question and this ones gonna be hard. Why do ya think I know ya love em?"

Ratchet scowled, this game was beginning to get on his nerves. "Because of how the twins and myself have been acting the past few months?"

Silence.

'_What's wrong with that answer?! Maybe he wants something more to the point. I mean the behavior thing is fairly obvious…' _Ratchets thoughts were beginning to get disorganized and scattered, as he tried to keep his temper in check. _'Think! When could our feelings towards each other have became apparent?'_

Ratchets optics widened. "In the rockslide… I heard that the twins were quite depressed, even frantic…over my injures… And Sideswipe was holding on to me, as if I would dissipate if he let go…" As the medic talked his voice became softer until it was a quite hum.

"Bingo." Jazz whispered into his audios. "Last question, what do ya think ya should do now?"

"What I was going to do before you stopped me: Find the twins and tell them how I feel towards them." The medic replied matter-of-factly.

Silence.

"Slag it Jazz, what was wrong with that answer?" Ratchet barked, now completely worn down by Jazz's game.

"What do ya think was wrong with it?" Jazz calmly replied.

"I don't fragging know what was wrong with it!" The medic roared.

Jazz pushed away from Ratchet, breaking the awkward embrace and began to walk away slowly.

"What do you plan to do after you confess your love to the twins?" Jazz called back.

"Wha…What do you mean?" Ratchet voiced helplessly.

Jazz stopped and turned to look at the medic. "When you have told the twins you love them…then what are you planning to do? Do you plan to move in with them? Or will they move in with you? Are you ready for a relationship? Are they?"

Ratchets optics widened yet again. He hadn't really gave the matter that much thought, he had been so focused on telling the twins how he felt that he didn't stop to think how the matter would end up.

"Well I guess we will have to cover that area in our discussion, when I find them."

"Wrong again…" Jazz sighed.

"What?! How was that wrong!!" Ratchet barked nonplused.

"The twins ain't talkers, their doers… Ya' better be ready for immediate action. I doubt ya' will be able to have a long discussion on the matter of how y'feel. The twins ain't gonna sit down with ya' and made a solid plan for th' future. Your gonna have ta' be more impulsive." Jazz finished off with a wave of his hand and began to make his way down the hallway once again.

"And how would you know?" Ratchet was beginning to get defensive.

"Cause I'm just like th twins when it comes ta that area. See ya around, Ratch" The Porsche said as he rounded a corner and disappeared form sight.

"More impulsive?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

How could I do this?! What was I thinking?! I wasn't thinking, that's it! Of course I wasn't thinking!! How can one confuse 'talking' with 'overloading', when they are _thinking_?! Stupid, stupid, stupid!!

"But they were good…" Ratchet whined in an attempt to calm his raging _voice-of-reason_.

Beside him Sideswipe began to chuckle and his optics slowly flickered on. "Well thank you, we did try our best." He managed in between giggles.

Ratchet had half a mind to twack Sides up side the head and would have too, if it weren't for a clever yellow hand slipping inside a seam and fondling sensitive wires. Ratchet immediately stiffened as a response to the caress and turned his head to get a better look at who was behind him.

'Sunstreaker… Of course its Sunstreaker, who else would it be?' Ratchet mused to himself. On the outside all he could manage was a soft whimper because the caress made coherent worlds damn near impossible.

"Glad you liked it." Sunstreaker whispered silkily into his adios.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Well you see I really like you two. More then just like, hell I love you guys. And that's what I am here to say. I. Love. You. If you don't share my feelings that's all well and good, but if you do then I think starting a relationship would be a smart move… A smart move?" He frowned.

Ratchet stood just outside the twin's quarters, talking mindlessly to the door that separated him from his goal. He was so close now… So why the sudden hesitation? Was it because of what Jazz had said or was it that his own cowardice had caught up with him?

"A smart move? What am I, a businessman? No, no that's not right! I gotta have more feeling behind it! Ok, again… Ummm... Primus…" he sighed as he rested his head on the door.

"I gotta put more… how does the human saying go? Oh yes-- I gotta put more oomph in it…" He stood up strength again. "What the slag is '_oomph_' anyways? Why do humans have such stupid sayings? Do humans even use half the stupid sayings they have made up? Why have so many sayings if you are never going to use them…" He paused and let a sad strangled sigh escape his vents. Yet again his head came to rest on the door in front of him.

"Who am I kidding? I can't do this. Who do I think I am? I can't bag the twins! Look how many others have tried! Look how many others are attracted to the twins! The have the pick of the liter, so what hope do I have in comparison!? Why would they pick me, a grumpy mech that's way past his prime, when they can pick a young good-looking mech?" Ratchet pushed away from the door.

"I should just leave before I embarrass—" Ratchet was cut off as the door to the twins quarters opened with a swoosh.

"Look, I said I was goin'ta get it, so get off my case you-- Ratchet?" The red twin stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the medic standing outside his quarters with a totally lost look on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Oh! Sideswipe I was… I was going to tell you… I… Your busy, I will just go… and come back later…" Ratchet voiced timidly.

"You wanna talk? Well come on in then." Sideswipe cooed as he pulled Ratchet into his room and closed the door behind him. "Wouldn't want anyone listening in on us. Eavesdropping is fun, but not when others do it to you. So what's up?"

Sunstreaker had moved to his brother's side and now both twins looked at the medic expectantly, the look made Ratchet feel inexplicably sick.

"I want to… want to… talk…about…about." Ratchet stuttered helplessly.

"Get on with it." Sunstreaker, who had quickly grown tired with Ratchets display of shyness, snapped irritably.

At that moment Ratchet deiced he couldn't do it, as a wave of anxiety swept over him. _'This is all too overwhelming! I gotta get outta here!'_

"Listen, I was just coming to see if every thing was going good with you guys." Ratchet felt like kicking himself. To afraid to confess his own feelings, a new low.

"We are doing fine." Sunstreaker continued meanwhile, apparently not noticing the waves of inquietude and uneasiness that were flowing off the medic.

"Oh… well good. Then I will be off."

"Ok, bye." Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge at the fidgety medic, as said medic turned hurriedly for the door. But just as Ratchet reached for the control pad to open the door a hand snatched up his and drew him backwards.

"W-what?" Stammered a now sickenly terrified medic.

"Sideswipe what the slag are you doing? Trying to pull his fragging arm off?!" Snapped the yellow twin. But there came no answer from the red twin who had ducked his head as a sulking child would.

"Well, let go of him!" The yellow twin snarled, when it was apparent that there wasn't going to be a response from the red twin.

"…no…" At last there was a reply from the red Lamborghini.

"What?!" Sunstreaker growled.

"I said NO!" Sideswipe hollered and his head shot up to face Ratchet, who was wide eyed from shock.

"Sideswipe calm down." Ratchet whispered soothingly.

"No!" Came the sharp reply to Ratchets request.

"Sideswipe, your acting like a sparkling!" Sunstreaker hissed.

"No!"

"Hey, come on now… What's wrong Sides?" Ratchet made sure his tone was concerned and not totally irritated. (For Sideswipes immature behavior was pushing his buttons at this point.)

"What's _wrong_?! What's _wrong_?! I'll tell you what's wrong! This is ALL_ wrong_!!" Sideswipe roared. "And I for one can't take it anymore… So I'm not going to!" With that Sideswipe grabbed the sides of Ratchets head and pulled him into a rough yet somehow compassionate kiss.

0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sunstreaker pulled Ratchet into his arms and rolled over, so Ratchet was lying on top of him.

"H-hey… A little warning, if you wouldn't mind."

"Oh, I do mind. Anyways you wanted to talk?" Sunstreaker purred as he nuzzled Ratchets neck.

"I d-did… But I find it hard to concentrate when y-your playing with my neck like that." Ratchet trembled in the face of Sunstreaker's actions on his neck.

"Deal with it. Now, what did you want to say?"

Ratchet opened his mouth but then abruptly shut it. He did have quite a bit to discuss with the twins, but at the moment it just felt wrong. Because it was wrong- it was a crime to ruin the moment with a long unwanted discussion about the future.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

As fast as the kiss had started, it was over and Ratchet found himself craving more.

"Ratchet, I love you! And its not only me, my Brother loves you too! We have loved you for a long time now! And I can't hold it in anymore!" Sideswipe pause. "I know you feel the same way! Sunny and I heard your conversation with Wheeljack. You told him you love us! So there you have it! We all love each other! And so I ask you, please wont you have us?"

Ratchet stared with mixed emotions at the twins. Slowly looking from one to the other.

'_Well that certainly made it easier for me. And hey, Jack was right; they did technically make the first move. But back to the present…Sideswipe asked me a question... But how to answer it? I wanna talk about the future. Get a good sense on where the two stand. Now is a good time to bring that up. No, wait… What did Jazz say? _"Be more impulsive." _easier said then done_…' Ratchet sighed and shifted his weight to one side. _'Now or never, as they say._'

And with that he leaned forwards and locked lips with Sideswipe. Both twins were dumfounded by the response Ratchet chose. Both had expected something lame like a request to talk about '_their feelings'_ or to '_make plans for the future'_, but the situation had taken a completely unexpected turning. One that the twins liked greatly.

"Listen…"Ratchet said in between the kisses. "I'll do you a favor and skip the parts that I know you don't want to do, like discussing… anything, and go right to the part I know you _do_ want to do… like…like"

"Interfacing?" Sideswipe chuckled in between kisses.

"Yes that." Kiss, "But then after that I wanna talk. You get that?" Ratchet finished.

"Deal." Sideswipe panted.

"Good." And with everything that was going to be said said Ratchet pushed Sideswipe back on to his berth. Sideswipe collapsed onto it with a yelp. Apparently he hadn't noticed that Ratchet was ever so slowly pushing him backwards as they were talking. Ratchet made a gesture for Sunstreaker to join in, and the yellow bot unquestioningly obeyed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Because it was wrong; it was a crime to ruin the moment with a long unwanted discussion about the future. Ratchet quickly decided to, instead on having a conversation, just take charge and lay down the law.

"Listen, this is how its gonna be. One: You guys are going to move into my quarters by the end of the week. Two: I am a clean freak, and by looking at your quarters I can tell you are not, so you try to be cleaner and I'll try to deal with it. And three: No more flirting with Bluestreak."

"Ok, the moving and being clean thing I can do but, came on, flirting with Bluestreak is a habit. No need to be jealous." Sideswipe protested.

"I don't care. No flirting."

"Find, but just for the record- Habits die hard… Especially ours." Sideswipe whined.

_Habits die hard_, yet another human saying, but for some reason Ratchet didn't seem to regard this one as being stupid or redundant.

In fact he rather liked it.


	9. A second thought from an observer

Jazz glanced up just in time to see the three that made up the hottest topic in the Ark go strolling by

Jazz glanced up just in time to see the three that made up the hottest topic in the Ark go strolling by. As always they were all holding hands and chatting quietly against themselves. Also, as always they claimed the table at the far wall, near a corner of the rec. room. This was the norm ever since Ratchet pulled his head out of his aft and approached the twins. And to Jazz's delight Ratchet had taken his advice and been more _impulsive_ well '_approaching_' the twins. That, no doubt, came in the form of interfacing with them, or at least that was the rumor. As it so happens Bumblebee just happened to see all three mechs leave the twin's quarters in the early morning covered with paint scratches around the same time the rumors began to spread.

It wasn't long after that that everyone in the Ark knew about the three being '_involved_'. Though it wasn't the rumors that brought the latest 'couple' into Optimus Primes attention. No, Ratchet himself informed the Autobots fearless leader. The news made Prime fall right onto his hindquarters, literally. He was casually leaning on the edge of a desk when Ratchet delivered the news. The shock that followed made Optimus loose him balance and descend rather inelegantly off the desk and land neatly on his keister. Ever since then the three had been practically unseperatable.

A hand moving down Jazz's back snapped him out of him recollections and back into the realms of reality.

"What are you thinking about?" Prowls voice was soothing to Jazz's adios.

"Oh? Nothin' important, love."

"They look happy together." Prowl nodded him head in the direction of Ratchet and the twins.

"Yep, they do." Jazz hummed satisfactorily.

"You can't help but play match-maker, can you?" Prowl deadpanned.

"Hey, come on now, y'know my services are needed."

"Humm… I'd bag to differ." Prowl teased playfully.

"I bet you would, Prowler… You just don't get the romantic thing…" Jazz sighed gibingly.

Prowl leaned over Jazz and whispered softly in his adios "I can be as romantic as the next guy and I'll prove it." With that he straightened and walked out of the rec. room. Jazz didn't need to be told what to do next as he shot out of his seat and followed Prowl out of the rec. room. As he followed his lover's lead, Jazz couldn't help spare a fleeing glance at the three lovebirds in the corner of the room. There had been all sorts of rumors since the three had gotten together, and at that moment Jazz found himself thinking about the one rumor that was the foremost in his mind. The one that simply stated the three were planning to bond.

_I wonder if it's true? _

_-Epilogue-_

When everything was said and done, Ratchet laid there in between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker satisfied and fulfilled, perfectly content with just laying there in between his lovers. Then a thought hit him and he cursed underneath his breath_. 'Push it to the back of your mind… Push it to the back of your mind… Don't ruin the moment with something so redundant and stupid… Primus, I have to know!"_

Ratchet rolled over to face Sunstreaker, frowning deeply as he mentally kicked himself.

"Hey what's wrong, Ratchet?" Sunny asked, an odd look conquering his features.

"Can I ask you something? You heard my conversation with Wheeljack, right?"

"Ya… Why?" Sunstreaker said as he propped himself up on an elbow.

"So you know I messed with your CPU restraints?" Ratchet voiced weakly.

"Ya… Where are you going with this, Ratchet?"

"Well, I asked you a couple of questions…. One of the questions was: 'Are you yellow?' to which you answered 'No' and I wanted to know why… No, you know what, it's a stupid question, never min—"

"I'm not yellow." Sunstreaker cutoff.

Ratchet looked at him blankly. "What?"

"I'm _not_ yellow, I'm _Sun Kiss yellow_, there's a difference."

End 


End file.
